Dictionary:
Blue·grass Blue·grass Country or Blue·grass Region (blū'grăs')  |
A region of central Kentucky noted for its lushly growing bluegrass and the breeding of thoroughbred horses.
Bluegrass
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Bluegrass region |
For more information on Bluegrass region, visit Britannica.com.
| US History Encyclopedia: Bluegrass Country |
Bluegrass Country, a region of about 8,000 square miles in north central Kentucky, is named for its nutritious grass. European settlement, coming from Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas, started in the mid-1770s, and the region was well settled by 1800. The fertile soil, especially around Lexington, attracted many of the old agrarian gentry who were granted or bought large tracts of land, created estates, usually with slaves, and continued their former way of life. Smaller farmers occupied interstices between large farms as well as the less-fertile outlying areas. The region produced tobacco, hemp, and grains, and bred livestock, especially horses. The undulating countryside, with meadows, trees, rock fences, and elegant buildings, presents a patrician landscape, much like that of an English park. A similar region with a similar history is located in middle Tennessee.
Bibliography
Alvey, R. Gerald. Kentucky Bluegrass Country. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1992.
Aron, Stephen. How the West Was Lost: The Transformation of Kentucky from Daniel Boone to Henry Clay. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
Davis, Darrel H. The Geography of the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky. Frankfort: Kentucky Geological Survey, 1927.
Raitz, Karl B. The Kentucky Bluegrass: A Regional Profile and Guide. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, Department of Geography, 1980.
———. "Rock Fences and Preadaptation." Geographical Review 85, no.1 (1995): 50–62.
Trimble, Stanley W. "Ante-Bellum Domestic Architecture in Middle Tennessee." In The American South, vol. 25 of Geo-science and Man, edited by R. L. Nostrand and S. B. Hilliard. Baton Rouge: Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, 1988: 97–117.
—Stanley W. Trimble
| WordNet: Bluegrass |
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
an area in central Kentucky notied for it bluegrass and thoroughbred horses
Synonyms: Bluegrass Country, Bluegrass Region
| Wikipedia: Bluegrass region |
The Bluegrass Region is a region of the United States, mostly in northern Kentucky, containing a majority of the state's population. The region is centered on Lexington, Kentucky, with other major metropolitan areas including Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio, as it extends into southern Ohio. The Inner Blugrass Region (shown in light green on the accompanying map) includes the counties of Franklin, Scott, Harrison, Woodford, Fayette, Bourbon, and Jessamine .
The region gets its name from bluegrass, the common name for grass of the genus Poa, which is a favored lawn and pasture grass in the eastern United States from Tennessee northward.
The Bluegrass region is characterized by underlying fossiliferous limestone, dolostone, and shale of the Ordovician geological age. Hills are generally rolling, and the soil is highly fertile for growing pasture. Since antebellum years, the Bluegrass Region has been a center for breeding quality livestock, especially Thoroughbred race horses.
The area is becoming increasingly developed with residential and commercial properties, particularly around Lexington. Farms are losing ground to development and slowly disappearing. The World Monuments Fund has included the Bluegrass Region on its global list of 100 most endangered sites.[1]
The Kentucky Bluegrass is bounded on the east by the Cumberland Plateau, with the Pottsville Escarpment forming the boundary. On the south and west, it borders the Pennyroyal Plateau, (also called the Pennyrile), with Muldraugh Hill, another escarpment, forming the boundary. Much of the region is drained by the Kentucky River and its tributaries. The river cuts a deep canyon through the region, preserving meanders that indicate that the river was once a mature low valley that was suddenly uplifted. Particularly near the Kentucky River, the region exhibits karst topography, with sinkholes, caves, and disappearing streams that drain underground to the river.
Although Bluegrass music is popular throughout the region, the genre is actually indirectly named for the state rather than the region.[2]
The overall climate for this region of the United States is a humid subtropical climate. It is located within the Upland South region of the United States.
Gallery
 Bluegrass and rock fence of local limestone in central Kentucky. |
 Kentucky River in the Bluegrass region. |
References
- ^ http://www.wmf.org/resources/sitepages/united_states_bluegrass_cultural_landscape_kentucky.html
- ^ Bill Monroe, considered the "Father of bluegrass music", named his band the Blue Grass Boys after his home state. He was from Rosine in western Kentucky. The music takes its name from that band, and hence from the state's nickname rather than the region.
External links
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| US History Encyclopedia. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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Mentioned in
- Greatest Bluegrass Hits (1989 Album by Jimmy Martin)
- The Masters (1995 Album by The Masters)
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- Shout (1988 Album by Larry Howard)
- Singing Shouting Praises (1988 Album by The Osborne Brothers)
- Live at the Bluegrass Festival (1986 Album by Lester Flatt)
- The Nashville Bluegrass Band (198z Music Film)
- Hooked on Bluegrass (1990 Album by Various Artists)
- Bluegrass for the Soul: 20 All-Time Hits (2003 Album by Various Artists)
- The Bluegrass Album, Vol. 1 (1981 Album by The Bluegrass Album Band)
- Working Close (1983 Album by The Johnson Mountain Boys)
- Classic Bluegrass (1990 Album by Ralph Stanley)
- Pickin' on Elton John: A Bluegrass Tribute (2001 Album by Various Artists)
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